Casts Should Be Families Not Foes
The Theatre of Gadsden Photo: Urainah Glidewell
Seana Hendrickson
I’m not going to lie to you, I was a rather late bloomer to the theatre performing scene. I was fifteen years old and I sang “Reflection” from Mulan for a musical revue the local community theatre held annually. Thinking back to that day I would have shamed myself if I were one of my own students. I wore jeans, an Atari T-shirt and my bangs were in my eyes. I could not keep up with the piano, which is saying something, because it is a ballad.
Nevertheless, this awkward gal was cast in her very first production. I was going to finally be an actor! On stage with lights and singing and dancing, oh my! I had always wondered what it would be like to perform up there with so many people I had seen in shows before who were like celebrities to me. Watching these actors on stage was inspiring and all I wanted was to be just like them. I remember walking into my first rehearsal expecting friendship and rainbows and to be welcomed by all with open arms and hellos. To my dismay, this was not the welcome I received. It was worse. I received absolutely no welcome from my fellow castmates. The kumbaya I had dreamt of for so long was like the mythical Loch Ness monster, nowhere to be found and most likely a lie.
I spent my first production learning people’s names through osmosis and eavesdropping. Now don’t get the wrong idea I did have my best friend with me; we were like piranhas together- scary new fish to the pond that no one wanted to go near. The feeling was not one of warmth but boy did I love being on that stage. I loved the tough choreographer yelling when we did not get choreography right, the sound of a live pit blaring in monitors next to me, the long nights of rehearsal...every bit of it better than I could have imagined! I truly loved being on that stage. I just didn’t love the feeling of being a nobody when being a performer meant I was finally going to be somebody.
I encountered every type of community theatre performer you could at the ripe age of fifteen. There was the diva who thought she deserved every role and the flamboyant over the top guy who was too loud for his own good. The actors who did not believe in deodorant, the actors who were a little weird, the actors who were very sweet, the actors who were the favorites and every other type of stereotype you could find. The problem was, it took until a tech week to finally have someone know my name.
Now, the purpose of this long story isn’t to tell you how horrible it was or to bore you with my life. Because in all reality, the director of that program is one of my dearest friends and mentors, I have been working for that choreographer as a theatre director for almost ten years and many of those smelly weirdos are some of my best friends. I share it as an example of what inspired me to create the theatre environment I want young actors to walk into when they are a part of my productions.
Performing is a place where actors go to get away for a while and be heard and seen when often they are not elsewhere. Unfortunately, the performing world is extremely competitive even in community theatre with children. Therefore, it is our job as directors and educators to foster community within and amongst them. Theatres that are competitive and clicky just foster negativity and knock the confidence of young performers. Now please don’t get me wrong, I am in no way saying that my time with that theatre company was so unpleasant I never wanted to be a part of it again, heck I did every show there for the next three years and decided to go into studying it in college. My first time performing in a show was not the way I would have imagined it to be, but it inspired me to work harder and push myself out of my shell to be someone that people noticed and someone that made people new to the theatre feel welcome. That experience has made me hyper-aware of how I go into new acting experiences and how I treat others around me while performing. It has also helped me as a director to foster the environment I want for actors.
What I am getting at here, is that casts of shows should feel like family, not foes. It is important for the creative space to be a positive one fostering teamwork, collaboration and the desire for each other to succeed. I recently had the opportunity to stand backstage for a production of Urinetown I was directing. I felt comradery backstage between actors ages 12-18, from all walks of life and experience. During a few different moments in the show, I would look across in the wings and see almost every cast member waiting to silently cheer on their fellow actors when someone on stage got a big laugh, or when they hit the high notes.
I am not here to tell anyone how to run their theatres. If you want a cut-throat-every-man-for-himself vibe then you go for it. However, I have found if actors feel as though they have a friend in each castmate, it creates an environment where they feel trust and support. Because in order to perform as a cast you need to trust each other. And the best way to begin creating that trust is to simply make sure everyone knows each other’s names.